


Silver Saves Christmas

by Vex_ation



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22042165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vex_ation/pseuds/Vex_ation
Summary: Silver, as it turns out, has never seen Santa in person. After accidentally punching his lights out, Silver is responsible for saving Christmas for the entire Violet Orphanage. Unfortunately, Gold is there to help.--An X-Mas Secret Santa fic for my friend Wren!--
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Spe Character Studies





	Silver Saves Christmas

“I cannot believe you did that to Santa,” Gold said, shaking his head. Silver trembled in place, staring at the ambulance as the doors slammed shut and it slowly pulled away.  
“Am I getting coal for Christmas now?” Silver asked, his voice quiet and nervous. Gold laughed and ran a hand through his hair.  
“Silv, buddy, it’s fine. Oak just slipped, he’s gonna be ok-- it’s probably just the old coot being dramatic again.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes I’m sure; the ambulance workers said there’s nothing broken and he’s clearly not dead so they just want to check him out as a precaution.”  
Silver frowned, staring at the ground and scuffing the frozen dirt with his shoe. “What do we do now?” he asked. Gold smiled, putting his hands on his hips and staring out at sleepy, snowy New Bark Town with mischief sparkling in his eyes.  
“We’re gonna save Christmas.”  
***  
The two boys arrived at Crystal’s house within the hour, Silver looking guilty while Gold patted his shoulder and Crystal stared the two of them down with the righteous anger of Arceus itself.  
“You did what?!” she snapped. Gold was wheezing at this point, laughing so hard he was barely able to speak.  
“So like… so he thought Oak was an intruder because he had never seen Santa in real life before and had Weavile use Icy Wind like he did with Elm and Oak slipped and…” Gold couldn’t finish, doubling over in another fit of hysterics. “I can’t… I… ha…”  
“Gold!” Crystal scolded. “None of this is funny! That’s assault and battery!”  
Somehow, that only made Gold laugh harder. He leaned on Silver for support, who at this point was looking like he was about to cry.  
“I assaulted Santa Claus,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “Crystal, I ruined Christmas.”  
Watching him look at her with wide, teary eyes while Gold howled with laughter beside him, writhing on the floor, Crystal was ready to scream. The orphanage kids had been looking forward to this holiday celebration this whole winter season, and Arceus help these two buffoons if they kept Crystal from delivering.  
“I’m getting coal…” Silver whispered to himself.  
“Silver, Santa isn--”  
Before she could finish, Gold had grabbed her ankle and shook his head, past the point of laughter and just wheezing on the grounded like a beached Wailord. Crystal looked at Gold with a cocked eyebrow, then back up at Silver, who stared at her innocently.  
“Santa isn’t… able to deliver presents because of you two, so if you want to get presents this Christmas you need to make sure you do his job for him.”  
Silver nodded furiously, his eyes intense. Crystal knew Oak best, and if Oak was Santa, that made Crystal (and… well, even Green and Daisy) one of his elves. They knew what to do; they knew how to save Christmas. Eyes sparkling, Silver clenched his fist and stood up straight.  
“Just tell me what to do,” Silver said. Gold somehow found one last laugh from somewhere deep in his belly, which Crystal promptly ended with a small kick to the stomach. He lay there on the floor gasping for air as Crystal clutched her forehead in exasperation.  
“Come into the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll make you a list.”  
***  
“This is long,” Gold whined. Crystal glared up at him.  
“Oak and I do this every single year,” she snapped. “And since you decided to try and assassinate Santa Claus”-- Silver whimpered at that-- “it’s your turn to put together Christmas. Figure it out.”  
Silver and Gold stared down at the table. Amidst the sea of paperwork and energy drinks and a few scattered multivitamins was a small piece of paper with crisp, neat handwriting. On each line, one task. This list, scrawled on the back of an invoice for pokeballs, was the secret to saving Christmas. The two boys took stock of what they needed to do. It didn’t seem… too tough. Probably.  
Pick up cookies + healthy snacks  
Get a tree  
Help decorate the tree  
Buy wrapping supplies and wrap all presents  
Have Santa make a cameo  
“Alright, I can dig it,” Gold said. “This doesn’t seem too hard. I know Sapph is in town and she’s got a truck, so the tree is easy.”  
“Blue has lots of craft supplies, so I can ask her and Red to help us wrap presents,” Silver added.  
“We can probably stop by Green’s and ask for Daisy’s cocoa mix while we’re there too.”  
“Perfect.”  
“Hell yeah!”  
The two of them high-fived. Crystal imagined that it was almost too easy, that somehow, even with this short list, they would fail.  
“Well, I think we can also ask Yellow for the berries we need for the ‘cookies plus healthy snack portion’ of this,” Silver mused. Biting his lip, he frowned. “Do berries grow in winter?”  
“No,” Crystal said dully. “Nothing grows in winter except my hatred for it.”  
“‘Kay then Miss Grinch,” Gold said. “But I think Viridian is a little milder than here, so hopefully Yellow’s got something. We’ll go visit her later.”  
Crystal sighed as Silver and Gold got their friends on the phone. Silver smiled and nodded: Blue was in. Gold laughed heartily and said something like “we’ll be there soon” and sprang out of his chair, beckoning Silver after him.  
“Do you think they’ll screw something up?” Emerald asked. Crystal turned, not realizing he had been standing at the door.  
“Definitely,” she said somberly.  
“Well, I came to say I made you some cocoa,” he said as he walked in. “Do you want marshmallows or peppermint?”  
Crystal smiled and let her eyes soften, not caring if the exhaustion leaked into her expression. He planted a kiss on Emerald’s forehead and took the mug from his hands gently.  
“This is perfect. Thanks, Rald.”  
*****  
“Are you sure they’re here?” Silver asked, looking around at the nearly empty parking lot. Ruby and Sapphire-- or the truck Gold swore they were driving-- were nowhere in sight. The two Johtoians stood alone in the frosty wasteland, cold and confused, when suddenly a noise like a dying Luxray rang out. A pickup truck that looked like it had been in an out of the Distortion World rolled into the parking lot. The driver looked thrilled, her arm hanging out the driver’s side window, while her passenger was bundled up in too many scarves and trying to drown out the sound of the engine with Mariah Carey’s Christmas album.  
“HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!” Ruby and Sapphire shouted as they pulled up. Sapphire tore open the car door, making Ruby shiver from the rush of cold air as she pounced on Gold in a tackle hug. The two friends punched each other’s shoulders and ruffled each other’s hair while Silver chuckled at Ruby spread over both seats in an attempt to shut the door and keep out the cold.  
“Sapph! It’s so great to see you!” Gold said. “We gotta hang out again on New Year’s, that was so fun last year!”  
“Aw hell yeah,” Sapphire replied fondly, knocking her cheek. “I’ve got the tooth fillings to prove it. Anyway, you said you needed a tree? I’m picking up one for us anyway so I can just throw another one on the back. It’s gonna be great.”  
“You know, I’m a little surprised at you Sapphire. You always say you hate artificial things and I know for a fact you’re not religious, but you love Christmas more than anyone I know!”  
“Eh, whatever. Christmas has always been a commercialist hellscape, but the cookies are good, I like buying presents for my friends and Mariah Carey really does slap,” Sapphire said with a shrug. Silver furrowed his eyebrows.  
“If you just like the presents and cookies, why are you going all the way to the National Park to cut down your own Christmas tree?” Silver asked.  
“Because it’s my sworn and solemn duty to mess with Ruby as much as possible every holiday season. I’m gonna chase him around the forest with an axe because he keeps skipping our spin classes.”  
“I HEARD THAT!” Ruby shouted from inside the pickup truck.  
“Good! Get your heart rate up, prissy boy!” Sapphire shouted back. “Anyway, if ya really want a big ol’ tree I’m sure I can find one for you. I can even drive it to Violet if ya want.”  
“You sure?” Gold interjected. “I can drive it to Violet if you’re busy.”  
Sapphire laughed. “You think I’m gonna let you anywhere behind the wheel of my truck? I’ll see y’all in a few hours.”  
Silver and Gold looked at each other as Sapphire gave Gold one last bear hug and got back in her truck, hollering as the track rolled back around to “All I Want for Christmas”. As the two of them drove away, Gold and Silver could hear them singing at the top of their lungs, which would have been adorable if either of them could sing.  
*****  
Yellow shook her head, dislodging a dusting of snow from the brim of her hat.  
“It’s great to see you two again!” she said with a smile. “What brings you to Viridian?”  
“What, I can’t come to the city without ulterior motives?” Gold pouted.  
“Silver, yes. You? No way,” Yellow teased. “I was starting to think I’d never see you two again, you’re always so busy this time of year.”  
“The daycare is always busy with families on vacation and people wanting advice for breeding in the spring. Plus I have to decorate and get presents for all the Pokemon in the house and help out Crystal…” Gold twirled his hand around vaguely. “You know.”  
Yellow laughed. “‘Course I do, Green and I are always busy with stuff around this time too. He sends me all the abandoned pokemon that wander into the gym with some checks for their food, so it all works out.”  
“That’s nice,” Silver said quietly. The three of them were walking towards Yellow’s cottage, where Yellow claimed that Bill, Daisy, and Green were waiting inside. The birds were singing in the treetops, whistling a melancholy song as fat snowflakes drifted to the ground.  
“I bought friends!” Yellow sang as she waltzed inside. Green, Bill, and Daisy waved, all packed into her little kitchen as they scuttled around making cookies. The whole cottage smelled like gingerbread. As Gold and Silver stood awkwardly by the door, Yellow stepped over piles of toys and sleepy stray pokemon that lay across the floor.  
“You’re here to help, right?” Green asked, looking skeptical.  
“No,” Silver said as Gold chirped “Yes!”  
Bill looked at them quizzically as Gold dragged Silver through the cottage.  
“Crystal asked us to get some cookies, berries, and cocoa mix for the orphanage christmas party,” Gold explained, “but we would just love to stay and bake with you!”  
Silver stared at Gold, trying to piece together his motive as Gold threw himself into the fray and began helping everyone bake. Silver joined Yellow in cleaning and getting together the tools-- since apparently news of that one time he set Gold’s microwave on fire had spread far and wide. The two of them chatted about Viridian and stray Pokemon while Gold and Bill gabbed the ears off the Oak siblings. Christmas jazz danced over the tinny radio speakers, accented by the clinking of pans and the whirr of Yellow’s dinky old oven.  
“Is this why you wanted to help?” Green asked, pulling Gold’s face away from the icing bowl by his hoodie like a dog.  
“MmmhMMM?! Of course, wasn’t it obvious?” Gold teased as he licked his lips. “Besides, it’s too late to fly home safely, so we’ll have to have a sleepover at Oak’s place!”  
“Sounds wonderful!” Daisy said cheerily as Green shook his head.  
Bill stood between them to put another dozen cookies on the cooling rack.  
“Daisy, you can stay at my place if you’d like so you have enough room.”  
“Sounds wonderful my dear,” she said, planting a kiss on his cheek as she winked in Gold’s direction. Bill laughed as Daisy began to box more cookies, finishing another tin and tying it up nicely.  
“Is this enough?” Daisy asked as she placed the tin on the ever-growing stack in the living room. Silver seemed overwhelmed by the sheer amount of food on the table. He said nothing, just staring at what must have been 200 cookies, a few pounds of cocoa mix, and enough dried berries and jams to stock an orchard.  
“That… should be enough. Thank you,” he said to his Viridian friends. Though his voice remained stagnant as always, the softness in his eyes spoke volumes.  
“Hell yeah!” Gold cheered. “If we’re all done it’s time for a sleepover!”  
“You can stay here,” Yellow offered, her tiny hand holding onto Gold’s sleeve. As Green sighed and ran out the door with a sympathetic Silver in tow, Gold realized he probably didn’t have much of a choice.  
“Yellow, it’s really ok, I can just go with Gree--” Gold said as Daisy and Bill wrapped their scarves tight and walked out the door with a chuckle and friendly wave goodbye.  
“No no, you’d bother Green!” Yellow chirped. “Stay here, I insist.”  
Gold whimpered softly, having forgotten for a moment just how persuasive she could be. “I- I’ll take the couch then,” he replied.  
“Sounds great!” Yellow chirped. “I’ll make some cocoa.”  
****  
The next day, Gold and Silver met up in the nearby Pallet, where Red and Blue were sharing an apartment during the winter. Blue insisted she had enough wrapping paper and present bows for all the presents Crystal had dropped off, but had informed the two of them that they would have to wait until she and Red ‘took care of some things’ before they started their gift wrapping.  
“What’s he doing?” Silver asked. Blue shushed him, sneaking forward and pointing her camera towards Red as he attempted (poorly) to sneak up behind a wild Pikachu.  
“Come on you beautiful himbo,” Blue muttered to herself as Red crept forward, ignoring the Pikachu’s obvious signs of annoyance. Red held a Stantler-antlers headband in his hands, stretched out to plonk onto the ‘unsuspecting’ Pikachu’s head.  
“Why?” Silver asked. “I don’t understand.”  
“He thinks that if he hooks up eight Stantler to his sled he can fly with them, except Stantler aren’t native to Kanto so he’s just putting antlers on Pikachu.”  
Silver said nothing, just watching as Red pounced on the poor rodent-- who almost immediately wiggled out of his grasp and shocked him for the trouble. Red smiled, satisfied as the Pikachu sat in the snow and shook her head. She struggled to see the antlers Red had tied to her head, so her beady eyes were crossed in frustration.  
“That was the last of them!” Red announced cheerily. “Blue, did you film that? I’m gonna hook up the rest of the Pikachu to my sled!”  
Silver watched the exchange in concern. “He wants you to film this?”  
“Yup,” Blue replied. “We run a Youtube page together. He does stupid things everyday, so we figured we might as well film it and collect royalities.”  
“But… he thinks this is going to work? He can’t… he can’t be that stupid.”  
Blue shrugged. “Sometimes I have to wonder what goes through his head, Silver. I really do.” Noticing Red dragging his ‘sled’ to the middle of the field, Blue gave him a thumbs up.  
“That’s a garbage can lid,” Silver pointed out.  
“Yes,” Blue replied.  
“A metal garbage can.”  
“Yes.”  
“That he’s going to tie to a bunch of angry wild electric types.”  
“Yes.”  
The two siblings said nothing, Silver watching in concern as Red prepared his Christmas sleigh. He smiled at them, giving two thumbs up and putting on Gold’s goggles-- was he endorsing this?!-- as he grabbed the reins. Gold held a huge bag of treats in his hand, dragging it through the snow as the Pikachu stared him down hungrily. Gold began to sprint away from them, causing the Pikachu to leap into a frenzy as they rushed towards the food.  
“So,” Silver said as he heard the pitter pattering of dozens of Pikachu paws and Red shrieking (in pain or glee he wasn’t sure). “Is the wrapping paper inside?”  
Blue nodded. Silver got up at walked back into the house as a chorus of “Pika pika CHUUUUUUU” erupted from behind him. Did he smell something burning?  
*****  
“Y-.... You know what? I have a question for you. Do you ever think things through?” Crystal said, absolutely seething. Silver and Gold were in the orphanage parking lot with a very angry Crystal, staring at the pickup truck silently as Sapphire and Ruby struggled to unload the tree.  
“Why?” Crystal asked. “Why did you pick out a tree that was 8 feet tall?”  
“Go big or go home!” Ruby shouted from across the driveway. He was engulfed in the branches, covered in a layer or three of pine needles, and they could almost see him smiling from deep within the evergreen.  
“That’s what she sa--” Gold tried to say as Crystal elbowed him.  
“How in the world is this going to fit in our house?” Crystal said.  
“Hey Crystal,” Emerald shouted as he poked his head out the door, “whatch-- oh FUCK yes!”  
“NO!!” Crystal shouted back. “Our ceilings aren’t this high! And watch your language!”  
“Who cares?!” Emerald said. “I can have Sceptile trim it, it’ll be fun!”  
The mention of Emerald’s starter alerted the orphans, who all came running towards the door like a gleeful little mob.  
“Sceptile can play with us again? Where’s Sc-- oh my goodness!” shouted one of them.  
“Is that for us?!” another exclaimed.  
“Best Christmas EVER!” Emerald said, high-fiving everyone who ran up to the door. Crystal looked ready to faint, looking back between the excited orphans and her more excited brother, the sheepish Gold and Silver, and the ecstatic Ruby and Sapphire.  
“You know what?” Crystal said. “Fine, whatever. Just… put it in the front yard, Emerald and Sceptile can trim it.” Everyone cheered as Crystal tried to fight back the tears. She needed a raise. She needed a drink. She needed a nap.  
*****  
“We’re almost done!” Gold cheered, checking another thing off their list. They had a tree, they had snacks, they had wrapped presents and some hilarious home videos for the holiday season courtesy of Blue, and all they had left to do was decorate the tree and have Santa show up somehow. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Emerald and Sceptile had already set up the tree in the corner of the living room, with Gold and Silver helping unload boxes of ornaments from the attic. Most, of course, were handmade, and it seemed that this year there was finally a tree big enough to fit every single ornament and all the strings of lights. The orphans stood around excitedly, their Pokemon at their feet as they stared at the huge tupperware containers that littered the living room floor.  
“Can we decorate the tree?” one of the orphans asked. The rest, like Wingull, joined in their little chorus.  
“Please? Please? Please?” they begged. Silver and Gold looked expectantly at Crystal, who sighed and told them to get a ladder and to make sure no one fell. And so, for the next few hours, Silver and Gold got to sit there chatting with Emerald while they helped pass along ornaments to the kids as they happily decorated the tree.  
“You two got lucky that Emerald strung up all the lights for you,” Crystal chided from the kitchen. The smell of latkes and applesauce wafted into the kitchen, so the three boys only sighed and sniffed the air in hopes that there would be some leftover when the kids were done eating.  
“Mister Emerald! We’re done! Can you put the star on now?” one of the kids asked excitedly. Emerald smiled proudly down at the kid, who held the Jirachi themed star in their hands as they stared at him with sparkling eyes. Emerald pushed himself off the couch with a huff, then called Silver over.  
“Alright, I need you to stand here,” he directed as he took the star from the kid’s hands. “And don’t move.”  
Silver did as he was told without question, looking at Gold for answers. Gold shrugged, then covered his mouth to restrain his laughter as Silver felt Emerald tugging on his coattails. Before he could offer to lift Emerald up; however, Emerald had already climbed Silver like a tree and was standing on his shoulders to reach the top. Silver stood there frozen as Emerald placed a foot on his head and pressed himself just high enough to dunk the star on top. Before Silver could even think about reacting, Emerald had hopped down and was staring up, admiring his handiwork.  
“Ready?” he asked the kids as Silver backed away to be with Gold. The whole orphanage cheered, and even Crystal popped her head out of the kitchen to see Emerald excitedly plug in the tree and click on the lights. The whole room lit up in a thousand rainbow colors as the kids oohed and aahed at the sight. Emerald gave the two of them a thumbs up, which meant that they had one last thing to do on Christmas Day before their list was complete.  
*****  
“When is Santa Claus coming?” one of the kids asked. Crystal sighed and rubbed the back of her head.  
“Soon, I’m sure. I don’t know why he’s a little late but he’s coming this year, I promise.”  
Crystal was sitting in the living room with the orphans, taking the occasional glance outside to see a suspicious lack of Santa Claus. She didn’t know what those boys were doing, but needless to say they were late.  
“Santa!!” one of the younger orphans exclaimed. Crystal sat up quickly, running to keep track of the gaggle of kids that rushed to the door at the first opportunity. Emerald was ‘keeping watch’ outside, snuggled up in at least two coats and his favorite sweatpants and snoring into his now cold mug of cocoa. He snapped awake as the kids ran outside, joining Crystal as the two of them stared out at the field. Usually Oak just showed up in a poorly attached beard and a red suit, but was this actually… were they seriously… HUH?  
What arrived was a huge sleigh full of presents-- and not one Santa Claus, but nearly 10! Gold and Silver sat at the helm, pulled along by eight Stantler. Sitting among the presents was Blue, Bill, and Daisy, who were all dressed in Christmas sweaters and waving at the kids as they pulled up. Green landed beside them by the porch on Charizard, with the still wounded Oak-- now in the same poorly made Santa costume-- with him. As all of them helped unload the sacks of presents, Yellow rode up on Dody, pulling Red on his homemade sleigh along with a dozen Pikachu. The orphans gleefully ran up to them as the dexholders and their friends brought presents and cookies and winter cheer into the house.  
And as if that wasn’t enough, the screeching of tires made Crystal whirl around to see a huge pickup truck with a red nose, antlers, and a cocoon of christmas lights pull into the driveway, blaring Christmas music as two familiar faces hopped out of the front seat. As Emerald ran up to greet Ruby and Sapphire, Crystal thought she might cry. Every single one of the dexholders from here to Hoenn had come, all laughing and making merry and bringing the biggest smiles to the kids’ faces.  
Her eyes softening, Crystal ran up to Gold and Silver to wrap them in the biggest hug she could manage.  
“How’d we do?” Gold asked.  
“Good enough for the nice list?” Silver added a bit nervously.  
“This is amazing,” Crystal said as the dexholders helped herd the kids inside. “You guys are the best.”  
While the festivities continued inside, Crystal couldn’t help but smile as they all held each other tight against the biting winter winds.  
“Anything else?” Gold said as they broke the hug. Crystal just slipped their hands into hers.  
“Merry Christmas.”


End file.
